Value (HUM225)

Ideally, even lecture classes contain an element of dialog. Paolo Freire, the Brazilian theorist of pedagogy, took great pains to explain that an effective education cannot be governed by what he called “the banking concept of education“– a principle which holds that students are merely passive, empty vessels which the teacher-expert attempts to fill.

Yesterday someone asked me about the assignments for this coming week. In responding to her I tipped my hand about the purpose of these readings and how they relate to the course as a whole. Here’s what I wrote:

New Location/ Music (HUM470)

Against all expectation we’ve managed to secure a new room with better media equipment. Our new classroom is in HUM 286. We’ll meet there on Tuesday. Pass the word along if you see anyone from class.

Also, I’d like you to submit a youtube clip of a track that you think constitutes an example of life narrative to the comments section of this post. Paula and Monica have already done so. Paula’s choice reminds me of my grandfather, who had an old 8-track cassette with this song on it:

“A Boy Named Sue” was written by Shel Silverstein, the author of The Giving Tree, and recorded by Johnny Cash at a concert at San Quentin Prison.

Life Narrative (HUM470)

I was going through your questionnaires looking for musical advice and selected a few of the artists mentioned. First, a remarkable clip of Billie Holiday singing Travelin’ Light:

More Maps (HUM455)

The kingdoms of Spain, ca. 1200 CE:

Questionnaire (HUM225/ 455/ 470)

Questionnaire

1. legal name

2. preferred name

3. place/date of birth

4. are you a first generation college student?

5. are you a military veteran?

if so, what was your job/ period of enlistment?

6. are you fluent in more than one language/ did you grow up speaking more than one language? which ones?

7. have you taken, or are you currently taking, ENG 114 (or equivalent) or a CMS course?

8. what is your primary area of study?

9. what was the best non-required book you read in the last year?

10. what was the last film you saw in a theater?

11. name three musicians, groups and/or genres you enjoy.

12. pick one. what about his/her/their music do you like?

Mapping (HUM225/455/470)

http://analepsis.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/maps-hum-225-415-455/

 

http://analepsis.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/maps-vial-contcult-americas/

 

http://analepsis.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/continents-hum455/

Goodbye Etta

Etta James, 1938-2012.

Johnny 99

Johnny 99  (1982)

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none
He came home too drunk from mixin’
Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call ‘m Johnny 99

Half

About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That’s up by 4 million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty gauge.

see Census Shows 1 in 2 People are Poor or Low-Income from Associated Press

Recommended

Here are some of the books and films I managed to consume this semester when I should have been doing other things. Though some are better than others I recommend them all.

Novels

Gain by Richard Powers

Outstanding. 2 narratives that counterpoint one another. In the first, a small soap-making company adapts to the rise of US capitalism and becomes a multinational corporation. In the second, Laura, a 40 year old mother of 2, discovers she has ovarian cancer.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A sharply observed political novel about Thomas Cromwell, counselor to Henry VIII and a leading figure in the English Reformation.

Waverly by Walter Scott

Scott’s first novel. A young man joins the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland.

American Rust by Philipp Meyer

Set in de-industrialized Pennsylvania. A novel about crime and the social effects of a faltering economy.

Non-Fiction

Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies by Jodi Dean

The ideas are as bad-ass as the title. Way beyond the increasingly irrelevant lib/con divide.